25 Jun 2025

Residents of Xobe 2 settlement in the North West district have been informed that their water woes will soon end as drilling and equipping of a borehole has been earmarked for this financial year under the Community Constituency Programme (CCP). 

The Member of Parliament for Maun East constituency, Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile told residents  during a kgotla meeting that an agreement has been made with the council to undertake the said project.  Although, the council, he said, had not yet received the CCP funding, he assured residents that once the funding had been released, the project will commence and urged them to identify a borehole with better yields and clean water. In other areas, he said the boreholes were producing salty water citing the one at Dikgatlhong, which was also drilled through CCP. 

He decried that residents have been experiencing a severe water shortage for years as Water Utilities Corporation was only providing potable water to gazetted villages hence they took a decision to address their water woes through CCP.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Kekgonegile said the corporation supplied residents with water through bowsing to improve water availability in line with the pandemic and the arrangement was later stopped. 

He also informed residents that bringing infrastructure developments such as roads to their area is a challenge as it is an ungazetted settlement. He agreed that such developments were crucial for agricultural production. He said that improved infrastructure could boost agricultural productivity and help alleviate poverty in agricultural communities. 

Mr Kekgonegile also informed the gathering that currently, the country was experiencing a cash flow crisis due to a prolonged downturn in the diamond market, whichwas negatively impacting the economy.  As such, he said the government would not be able to implement some new development projects because of financial constraints and urged residents to exercise patience as the government was working on strategies to address the situation. 

“This is a serious challenge as there will be no new projects this financial year and this requires all to change mind-set and consider reviving the spirit of self-reliance to undertake minor projects for our benefit,” he said. 

Presenting residents issues, Village Development Committee chairperson, Mr Etsogile Mokerenge said they have been experiencing a severe water crisis and many relied on buying water from Maun. He also decried the delay in Ipelegeng payments saying workers have stayed three months without pay as well as the bad state of the road saying small vehicles could not use it because it was sandy. 

The majority of residents, he said were serious farmers who relied on livestock rearing and cultivation of land but lacked of proper infrastructure is a challenge. Mr Mokerenge also expressed concern about lack of maintenance of the VDC office saying the ceilings were failing. He also stated that the offices were not fenced and that efforts were made by residents to volunteer to cut mapako to fence but transporting them was a challenge. 

On other issues, residents called on  government to help secure small stock market complaining that the local butcheries were exploiting them as they determined prices for their livestock and ended up taking them at low prices. They also requested  government to consider paying donkey owners who use their animals for farming saying that could relieve tractor owners the burden of assisting many people. Some revealed that they failed to plough last season because they had to queue for one tractor until the ploughing season came to an end. 

Ms Kedibetswe Leatamo urged government to consider paying what a farmer has lost through animal conflict at market price of the assets. Ms Leatamo, who lost 85 goats through predators  said they invested a lot in farming and compensation was low. ENDS